The Bible Speaks

When I was growing up, the goal of my education in the public schools was more than to fill my mind with as many facts as possible. The goal was primarily to help me learn to think and to ultimately become wiser than I was at present. Increasing intelligence was one of the goals, but enabling me to use my mind to make good decisions and to become a good citizen was the main purpose of my enrollment in school. After all, intelligence can be used for evil and for good, but wisdom will always be predisposed to good works and the building of solid character. Wisdom should be the primary purpose of all educational endeavors and increasing intelligence, by the acquisition of facts, only secondary.

If wisdom and knowledge are the goals, why is it that God has been “kicked out” of our schools? If there is a fundamental question to be answered in the heart and mind of every citizen is it not the question of the existence of God? Why is even a discussion of this nature shunned by those charged with educating our young people? Cannot intelligent people talk of that which is most important in all of life, especially considering that the Bible tells us that it is foolish to say there is no God? Proverbs 9:10 even goes so far as to say, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is under-standing.” If this is true, and I believe it is, then any educational institution that denies God, or refuses to take up the subject, is short-changing their students.

The Bible belongs in the classroom and God belongs as a central topic of discussion. It is not “religious indoctrination,” but educational excellence to bring in the most important part of all of life: God. If someone says “whose God will be allowed in the classroom?” the answer is simple: there is only one God. The only wise God is the only one to be taught because there are no others. The fact that there are other religions that differ with the Bible should be discussed and students should be enabled to make up their own minds. Isn’t that what good education does? A good teacher presents all the data and helps the students to make wise choices with regard to all the evidence. Teaching students to think is the goal of education, isn’t it?

The Bible speaks of denying the existence of God as foolish and leaving God out of education as detrimental to wisdom and knowledge. Hopefully someday the “fools” that have bankrupted our education will be replaced with wiser leaders that know and understand where wisdom and knowledge begin. May that day be sooner rather than later for our children’s sake.